Vates

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m the CTO of a software startup in Argentina that is developing a platform to improve sustainability in the agricultural sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates ?

Vates helped us prepare our startup for exponential growth. Accompanying us in all the necessary dimensions to have a successful startup and receive investment for growth.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We knew them from the entrepreneurial ecosystem and we chose them for the experience of having helped other startups, for the ExO Launchpad methodology they use, for their knowledge and experience in software development and the venture capital market.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We worked for 4 months in 6 sprints, in which we worked on the 8 dimensions of the methodology, using Trello to organize ourselves. Each sprint consists of a retrospective and planning session, 3 mentoring sessions and a final presentation session of the sprint result.

Activities by axis:

• Purpose: Define Vision and Mission.
• Abundance: Create ExO Canvas.
• People: Design Culture design Canvas.
• Processes: Define the testing process.
• Customers: Design and conduct Problem interviews.
• Product: Improve demo based on problem interviews.
• Business model: Define the main risks/hypotheses of the BMC.
• Metrics: Analyze problem validation metrics.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Exo Launchpad Head Coach, Exo Coach, Scrum Master/analyst, Specialists, and disruptors

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

After the ExO Launchpad our startup managed to achieve the problem solution fit and work product market fit. We were invested by venture capital and we are growing in clients and markets

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The work of the Vates team is very well organized, they made a Slack channel available to us to communicate and the agreed work schedules were respected. Everything happened in a very fluid way, meeting the objectives and established times.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Knowledge of the development process of a startup, the exponential methodology and its experience in different industries.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not for the moment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Alvaro Fernandez, COO of an agtech startup based in Río Cuarto, Argentina. We solve the problem of seedability of corn seed thruough encapsulate technology. We started Seed Matriz in 2018 and we are 15 people working full time at this moment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates ?

Vates helped us prepare our startup for exponential growth. Accompanying us in all the necessary dimensions to have a successful startup and receive investment for growth.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We worked for 4 months in 6 sprints, in which we worked on the 8 dimensions of the methodology, using Trello to organize ourselves. Each sprint consists of a retrospective and planning session, 3 mentoring sessions and a final presentation session of the sprint result.

Activities by axis: Purpose: Define Vision and Mission. Abundance: Create ExO Canvas. People: Design Culture design Canvas. Processes: Define the testing process. Customers: Design and conduct Problem interviews. Product: Improve demo based on problem interviews. Business model: Define the main risks/hypotheses of the BMC. Metrics: Analyze problem validation metrics.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Through a process of centrifugal aggregation of binders and dry matter, we reshape the morphology of the seed, covering it with a matrix that makes it round, drastically improving seedability, without preventing normal emergence or affecting its growth. The matrix also constitutes a carrier of enhancers, defenses and information generators that allows exponential efficiency in the use of inputs.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We are in the pre-commercial stage, but we currently have 1 full-time resource dedicated to commercial functions

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The work of the Vates team is very well organized, they made a Slack channel available to us to communicate and the agreed work schedules were respected. The process happened very fluidly, meeting the objectives and established times.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Both teams worked very close and organized

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Vates knows every stage of startups like Seed Matriz. Its a great added value for us

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The program was very dificult for us, due the resources that we could assigne for it. We think that to add a few weeks in this program could be better for startups like us

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CommScope is a company leader in the Product and Solution for Telecommunications field. As part of the CHS team, my role is to oversee Professional Services support for different programs in Latin America and Caribbean region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates?

With VATES support, we provide a wide portfolio of services to our customers like Remote Hands, Decommsioning and Fiber Characterization.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

Although this vendor is a CommScope’s preferred supplier, I've decided to select them based on their responsiveness, resource support and developement during the program and talent pool.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Once we receive the SOW from our customers, we identify the type of resource needed and we reach VATES to find the right profile. Once selected, VATES onboard this resource and we provide access to our systems/tools in order to accomplish the SOW.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Internally we define the Job Description and skillset required. We share that information with VATES and they run over the market searching for a good fit. Later they present a list of usually three candidates proposed and we conduct several interviews until decide which is the best fit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

With their support, we been able to sustain a >95% SLA accomplishment with our customers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As we are able to also onboard their resources within our company as contractors, there is a full integration to our systems and needs. This integration allows us to fulfill our customers needs as intended.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have a highly skilled team qualified to find the best fit for each requirement.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Despite support been given so far has been excellent, I believe they could proactively develop more options for upcoming market researchs aiming to specific profiles we may need.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CommScope is a company leader in the Product and Solution for Telecommunications field. As part of the Operations team, my role is to act as liaison between CommScope Professional Services Group (part of the Broadband Networks Segment) in Latin America and Caribbean region and Staffing Agencies in the region

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates?

Since 2015, the Professional Service Group has used resources provided by Vates in multiple projects, most often in the form of Staff Augmentation for our Customers, especially in the Cable TV industry. However, Vates has also provided resources for other positions such as Project Managers, Systems Integration Testers, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

This vendor is a CommScope’s preferred supplier. Deciding factors were: Responsiveness, how close the proposed candidate matched the need, availability of a support on Vates side to manage any situation during the assignment and cost.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

As indicated above, there have been several projects where the services of Vates have been used, from Staff Augmentation in the DOCSIS area, to DevOps and Testing services for Systems Integration, etc. The selected resource from Vates will go on to perform specific tasks depending their area of expertise according to the project needs (i.e. Customer network upgrades, expansions, etc.)

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Approximately 15 resources have been assigned to CommScope in Argentina in the last 5 years or so:

• ISP / DOCSIS /Video Engineering – 6
• Engineers – 4
• PM – 2
• PLM – 1
• Systems Integration – 8
• Testers – 5
• DevOps – 1
• Architect – 1

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Due to confidentiality no details can be shared. However, the projects were resources from Vates participated were successfully completed and some of them were renewed several times.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was pretty effective, Vates has always been responsive and ready to address any issues that might arise with the resources assigned to CommScope.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Vates has been key to CommScope success in Argentina, providing their right resources and whenever difficulties have appeared, they are always ready to solve the situation in the most professionally and efficient manner.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Considering the difficult socio-economic environment in Argentina during the last few years, pricing is always a determining factor. For a few specific cases Pricing could have been managed more proactively.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Global company that delivers software solutions to companies and accountants

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates, and what were your goals?

We need to deliver a new application for Income tax using a global platform. We need to achieve a fixed deadline because of compliance regulatory changes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The vendor has been chosen by the global sourcing area, after doing a benchmark with other local competitors

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Income tax app project need to be released before compliance aggressive deadlines. Project was split in monthly milestones. We worked in a global platform that manager .NET C# for for backend, and Angular for Frontend

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

This team was conformed by analyst, managers, QA, developers (BE and FE) and QA automation. Around 22 people

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Deadline was achieved successfully, up to now 140 clients are using this platform without problem

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

MS TEAMS, TFS ADO

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They integrated seamlessly with our internal teams in a very short period of time. They have worked together to achieve deadline successfully.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We did a progressively rump up, incorporating people in different months. Due mainly to difficulty in getting the proper resources in each role. It would be awesome having fully conformed team before kick off, and do the onbaording at the same time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am the CEO of a technology company specialized in software development for the mining industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Vates?

We needed help with software architecture and an API integration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the architecture, design, development, and implementation of our core I-GAT system. Recently, we also worked with them on an update of that same architecture to make it more secure for certification.

What is the team composition?

In the first project, we worked with an engineering manager, a lead architect, two developers I think, a project manager, and a commercial manager. It was the same for the update, except we only had one developer.

How did you come to work with Vates? 

At the time we were a startup and didn’t have enough experience to carry on that project, so we had a licitation. Vates met our budget needs, had great architects, and they made a great proposal.

Additionally, they had great experience in business software architecture and a great portfolio. They also had several developers available, which made us feel that we could have everything covered no matter what. We chose to work with them from there.

How much have you invested in them?

 We spent about $35,000 on both projects.

 What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project started in June 2015, and it lasted about 6 months. The recent update started in January 2021, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The architecture operates in 14 different mining sites, and it has a high volume of transactions. It also has a very good performance. The architecture was very well designed and successfully implemented on the cloud. Overall, the project was very effective and well-executed.

How did Vates  perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira for project management, and it worked very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The number of developers and diversity of profiles stand out. Basically, they can do whatever you need. The team has expert architects, QAs, web developers, and AI developers. They always have the right person for anything that you can think of.

They were also very good at estimating the time and budget needs of the project; their initial approximation ended up being very close to the final results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had to wait for some time before they had the availability to work on our project because they are usually very busy. Otherwise, we are very happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a good choice if you want your product to be high quality and scalable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Nobracks. We produce and sell orthodontic products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vates?

We use a lot of technology, and that’s the reason we hired Vates. Every orthodontist has a lot of patients. We needed a comprehensive solution within one platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a platform to organize our company’s production. The platform introduces our treatments to patients. Then, our orthodontists can follow the treatment plan and receive payment for the treatments.

What is the team composition?

We spoke with 5¬–10 people.

How did you come to work with Vates?

Vates was a very serious and interesting company. They were able to resolve our problem at a good price and within the time we wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Vates developed a very nice platform. We were happy that we chose them, and we were pleased with the software that they developed. 

We’re able to track our production and work in an easier way. We feel we’ve achieved our goals.

How did Vates perform from a project management standpoint?

All of our meetings were via video or telephone calls because of COVID-19. We also used email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a very serious company. We are going to do another project with them because we’re happy with their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s difficult to know if we’d change something. It’s not easy to do software specific to certain activities.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If possible, I recommend having in-person meetings. It’s better than interactive meetings, but that wasn’t an option last year. The relationship is very important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a mechanical engineer, and I’m the president of our company. Our primary product line is defense-oriented sensors, but we also have an agricultural-sensing device. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vates?

Vates worked on the Python code for our agricultural-sensing device. We had to upgrade from Python 2.7, which ran on AWS, to a higher version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vates took all of our existing lambda functions and converted the old code into the new one. They also did some testing on their servers. They deployed the code to their development environment, and from there, we ferreted out and fixed the issues. We then released it to our actual user-facing site. 

What is the team composition?

They have a large crew, but I mainly work with Rolando (Senior Software Developer & Engineer), Christian (Engineering Manager), and Carina (QA Analyst). 

How did you come to work with Vates?

A person I had known from my previous work had a list of different companies that might be good for the project. They were all overseas. I basically interviewed all of them, and I thought Vates was the best fit. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $10,000–$12,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020, and we’re still engaged. The bulk of the work is done, but I’m keeping them around for maintenance. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Vates has been amazing. The work they do causes no interruptions or delays on anything. The users didn’t experience any of those. I’ve done some in-house testing as well, and we’ve resolved the issues that showed up. We have a seasonal product, and we don’t think there will be any issues next season. The device should be good to go. 

How did Vates perform from a project management standpoint?

Vates has been excellent and is always ahead of me when it comes to delivering on time. They have a full plan and layout of the path that they want to use. They coach me through every part of it, and they have all of the bases covered. 

We communicate via email, and they prepare some PowerPoint presentations for us to follow along. I don’t use any project management software with them, but they may be using one on their end. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their efficiency and knowledge of the subject are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there are none. As far as my needs are concerned, the team gave me more than I needed. I was initially hesitant about working with someone outside of the US because I’d never done that before. We’d never used engineers and software developers that weren’t US-based. However, I no longer have any fears of that, since it has been very easy to work with Vates. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your priorities and all the things you want to achieve in your project, and then turn Vates loose on it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of SocialCrew, a digital marketing startup based in Argentina. We offer lead generation, SEM, growth marketing, customer research, and UI/UX design. We provide custom marketing software to customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vates?

We were looking to get more B2B clients, and we wanted to develop software for this purpose. The pandemic was affecting our business, so we needed to come up with a solution quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vates developed software with AI and big data components. It’s aimed to improve our clients’ business strategy and lead generation. They learned what our needs were and made some suggestions for the software.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 developers and a project manager from Vates.

How did you come to work with Vates?

They’re a well-known company in our market. We evaluated 3–4 other candidates, and we chose Vates because they were a large company with many years in the market.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran between February–August 2020. We don’t have ongoing work at the moment, but we’ll go back to Vates when we do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re very happy with the project, and we’ll do more work like this in 2021.

How did Vates perform from a project management standpoint?

They responded quickly to our messages, and they delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a lot of experience with development processes like scrum, and they have an agile mentality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We gave them our idea, and they materialized it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Vates is a professional team, and they have very good prices for the level of talent in their team. They’re quite accessible to startups.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company I'm working for is ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China). My role in the IT area of it, is as an analyst for the PMO (Project Management Office).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vates ?

ICBC hired VATES as a consultant for JIRA Cloud tool. Myself and other co-worker, act as administrators for JIRA Cloud where many development projects work on and we need VATES expertise in this tool in order to fulfill the projects needs. We need them to personalize the tool according to the development groups requierements.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The Purchase Department of IT in ICBC selected VATES as our consultant because of their experience in various similar projects. Also that they are partners with Atlassian was an important need. Succesfull cases, local presence and SLA, also other very important topics.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

I believe that this sums it up pretty good. ICBC hired VATES as a consultant for JIRA Cloud tool. Myself and other co-worker, act as administrators for JIRA Cloud where many development projects work on and we need VATES expertise in this tool in order to fulfill the projects needs. We need them to personalize the tool according to the development groups requierements.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

At least 4 resources worked with us in this period of time. Their positions are always the same, as consultants.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

At the moment we are having amazing results with VATES. All the needs are being fullfiled in time and the always pich in their thoughts and experience in every change we need to make to the tool behaviour with the teams.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I think it is pretty good. We have weekly meetings to attend and we review all the requirements in it so it is very effective.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I think that the time of resolution is the key for this type of arrangements with a consultant. Also their ticket tool to follow the cases and requirements we open to them are neat.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At the momento we do not have any complain or need for a change. Things are going smoothly so no need to do something different.